A Dream of Splendor (2022)

So many good things about this drama!

I’ll keep it brief.

This was a very great story, very strong. The plot was well thought out. The visuals were well done and I appreciate the natural coloring of the sets as well as the actors not having overdone make up. I enjoyed the plot and all of the ups and downs that they went through. The plot maintained consistency, as I didn’t find many holes or unanswered questions. The acting was amazing. Everyone did a really good job in their role. I definitely enjoyed the romance in this story as it seemed more real and the two leads had very strong chemistry.

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Strong female lead but looking for too much support and making it useless

A strong female lead is a great thing… but what are the issues:
1. Her former lover is the main enemy at the end when she is so good in assessing character and ouyang in fact was not bad to start with; if you are so clear about your lovers …only two lovers in her life… will you go to the extent of banishing him …will you not do your due diligence or let go as you are a strong lead
2. Her 2nd lover has to work hard to gain her favor in the later part of the story…again flawed…i really have two close friends in my 30 years of life…do I need a convincing from this person again…what sort of character am I… how can I be a strong lead…or champion among people
3. She is a strong lead but tries to prove herself in a bunch of hopeless men and women who act as authorities …if not for the support of these hopelesss people she would have died long back…if her character is not thorough or smart how can she a strong lead
- she goes to main inspector to negotiate who could have made her a concubine if not for her lover support…utter foolishnesses
- she accepts getting flogged 20 times and her lover as well…when they clearly know she can die out of flogging…another foolishness when it’s said she is the best businesswoman and her lover being the top agent
- she could have been killed by officials or empress anytime…where is the strength if you don’t know how to play politics and being the top businessswoman ?
- she goes to negotiate with the top businessman who could have also made her a concubine if not for his poor portrayal….
So is there anything strong about the female character here? Doing 4-5 things does not mean the leader among women…..one needs to show how smart she is to make it right 90% time…

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Great chemistry! Be prepared to read between the lines.

I was impressed in the first episode with the cinematography and how grand it all appears. Everything looked like the makings of a great drama and for the most part it was but it fell short by about 2.5 points. First, let me say the wardrobes were spot on beautiful and flowing for the women, strong and fierce for the men. The production was done well and made you feel as if you were somewhere real instead of a green screen. Thumbs up to the casting directors because they picked a great cast of actors. Each of the characters big and small does a great job of bringing you into their world. From Gu's father to the Goa's father. The only character I never connected with along with all of his scenes was Chi the gangster. I fast forward most of his scenes which were actually quite a few. They could have skipped those storylines and put back many of the ones they edited out.

The FL and ML have great chemistry and if you like romance there is a lot of it. Now this is also where they loose points with me for bad editing. It seems they edit out some key points in this drama. You will have to fill in the gaps, holes and even make up some episodes on your own. Don't bother going back to see if you missed something (You didn't). It was cut somewhere when back on the editing floor. Who ever the editing team were which would include the director they left out a left a lot of key elements on the editing floor. Which made me really angry. They spent too episodes trying a create love triangle that just fell flat, flat , flat. It was quite annoying.

Even at the last two episodes you may be confused because what could have been good for the drama and made it better got cut.

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Like it!!!

I like the early episodes to the middle episodes, this part is what I always repeat.
Their chemistry is really good. Like it!!!
actually it's been a long time since I've keep up in Chinese dramas, and Chen Xiao.
and when I saw chen Xiao after a long time, something had changed about him, he had become more mature, masculine, cool, and handsome.
and yes I was stunned to see him as Gu Qianfan.
and Liu Yifei she is more beautiful and elegant.
I like the story of their friendship.
Pan Er's figure with her intelligence and ingenuity I like it.

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More shows like this Please!

I LOVE this show. I enjoyed it very much and did not once FF it. It would have been perfect if the last few episodes didn't feel rushed or random to me, but C-dramas have been notoriously bad at sticking their landings!

The story line was engaging. The characters were dynamic and three-dimensional. I love the agencies the women had in this series. It was good to see a storyline where the women weren't catty with one another, but rather supportive to each other. This includes ALL the women in the series, not just the leads. The romance was void of dramatic spins, falls, and catches, and not too many slow-motion beauty shots, so that is always a PLUS in my book! It has been quite a while since I've enjoyed a C-drama this much (since the Imperial Coroner), especially after so many highly-anticipated ones which ended up be so disappointing to ME (Who Rules the World, Pearl Eclipse, The Long Ballad, Snow Sword Stride -- Don't come for me! If you love those shows, that's awesome!) To each her/his/their own! :-)

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Yes. In this lifetime and every lifetime: yes.

I didn't have a lot of expectations going into this drama, but what I got was a beautiful story of three AMAZING WOMEN who gave this story its true charm. The romance was there, but it took third seat behind the gorgeous tale of these three strong women, and then the hilarious comedy of Chi Yan Nei and his goons. So many hilarious, laugh out loud moments.
Zhao Pan Er was the perfect FML. She was smart, beautiful, witty, and not perfect. She grew and learned, but always kept her head held high and was always so positive without being naive.
The only tiny niggle that is barely anything is that Gu Qianfan is nicknamed "The Living Devil", which sounds badass, right? But he doesn't really... so anything devillish or badassish.
But the chemistry was for sure there.

Either way, this is a must-watch.

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Great story that stumbles before the finish line

A Dream of Splendor is a story of the sisterhood of 3 women who strive to live independently and proudly, despite their position in society. All 3 women have their own stories of struggle in the path to getting where they are now, some of them (*cough* Yinzhang *cough*) are deeply flawed in the beginning but through various hurdles end the story with great character development.

STORY
There is a great combination of romance, comedy and angst in this story. I must emphasize the comedy because not many people mention it, the comedy in this was really to my taste and were some of my favourite parts.

The first 30 episodes are great, in fact I think it was actually steadily improving as it went on . Then we hit the part that sent the story rating straight down to 6.0. The drama was going so well, it wasn't too trope-y, the main couple was actually communicating, they had incredible chemistry. It's important to remember that both ML and FML are both very intelligent people, but when we hit the last 10 episodes, we reached trope-land. Miscommunication like no others and complete idiocy from the ML.

Here's the main spoiler part; FML's father was demoted and their family was given pariah status. After they get together, the ML finds out his father is responsible for the demotion. The same ML who was preaching about communication a few episodes ago starts avoiding her! At the same time, our very independent FML suddenly depends on the ML for money to carry out a very risky business deal. Our extremely intelligent ML decides to leave the money (the old cash note) near an open window. Under an empty vase. On a stormy night. And doesn't tell anyone he left the money. Smart, right? The obvious happens and the paper flies away and gets hidden by other documents, FML in trouble because without this money she (+ the other women) lose everything they own.

Naturally she's mad at him. Despite there being a series of dumb decisions that lead up to this, once she finds the money he left behind, all is forgiven... Something like "It's not that he didn't want to see you, he was scared of seeing you" is said and then they got back together, no discussion about what happened.

And some parts of the plot are badly rushed. Some arcs have no satisfying ending, some have no ending at all, it's just.. there. Especially re: the relationship of the ML and his father (+ uncle). Didn't like how quickly the empress was convinced to come to the good side either. Writing this review made me realise that I kind of filtered out some stuff while watching it.

Also I found Yin Zhang annoying af for most of the series and I couldn't stand her scenes. She did improve majorly at the end though.
Sanniang had the best storyline and I sincerely rooted for her. Best character easily.


ACTING/CAST
Great acting. I didn't enjoy Liu Yifei's acting in the beginning but she grew into the role quite quickly. Had amazing chemistry with Chen Xiao, their romance was just top tier. All of the cast did great. Shout out to the actor that played Chi Pan, thank you for the great comedic relief during the main angst session.

MUSIC
The OST was pretty great, ended up adding a couple of them to my playlist.

REWATCH VALUE
Depends on whether you can stomach the dumb conflicts for a second time lol. Think the storyline suits a rewatching though. Just not for me.

OVERALL
Just give it a shot! My review sounds overly negative but there's a reason why the ratings are high, the acting, the first 2/3 of the plot and the cinematography are also pretty good. But also be aware of how frustrating the last 10 episodes will be.

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Oh my goodness, this is really a great drama. The storyline was so believable because the actors/actress were all believable. I'm a fan of this drama and it will be a rewatch. The drama was absolutely surreal. Yang Yang did a great job directing this story! I applaud the team of A Dream of Splendor. The writer wrote a story and the right actors and actresses were in place. My first time watching Chen Xiao playing the character Gu Qian Fan. He was fantastic! I can't take my eyes off his eyes... it's like I can see his soul and passion in playing this character. Very handsome actor! I have to watch more of him. The main lead actress, Crystal Liu who played Zhao Pan Er, had me crying but what a strong character she played. It's my first time seeing her in a drama series... I need to watch more of her as well. The visuals, I loved the Martial Arts in the first half of the drama were awesome. Ada Liu and Jelly Lin were tough and I loved that about them. OMG, the DV abuse that was shown, had to be hard to play that role.

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This drama was so good I had to write a review to tell everyone how good it is.

A Dream of Splendour is hands down one of the best dramas I have watched in my life. It's more than just a romantic love story - it's a story about friendship, forgiveness, courage and what it means to be strong. True strength does not mean winning every fight but it means strength of character and strength to change for the better. The drama delivers some very poignant and heart touching lessons in a very beautiful and entertaining way.

Personally, I found the drama to be very relatable as it focuses on characters that are very real and who have very real challenges despite being set in glamorous Song dynasty costumes and backdrop (for example, battling financial and business problems, toxic exes, falling out with friends etc). Each character has their own story arc and motivations and learn and work through their own trials and tribulations - they are very much alive rather than being two dimensional and moving for the sake of the plot.

The main actors, Chen Xiao and Liu Yifei, were superb and had so much chemistry together (love their banter!). That said, the drama would not have been a success without such a talented supporting cast (eg Liu Yan, Lin Yun, Dai Xu - just to name a few). I also particularly enjoyed the dynamics between the emperor and empress - very wholesome and refreshing take on an imperial marriage.

Overall, this is an uplifting drama that makes you believe in love and friendship again (in case you had forgotten). Bonus brownie points for having a satisfying happy ending! I mean how many historical dramas have there been that has ended in unnecessary tragedy. Although I would still have a tissue box handy for the sad and emotional scenes in A Dream of Splendour.

Well what are you waiting for? Go and watch A Dream of Splendour!

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I usually don't like watching these types of dramas that are set in the ancient china time period (cause it's hard to understand what they are saying as it is very complex, even as a fluent chinese speaker :"), but i actually watched through the series (i may have skipped a few since i was lazy...). The camera work, acting, music, and the set in general is god tier. Chi Yanei and Pan er are by far my favorite. CYN is there for laughs and he pulls it off well :"D Pan er is such a QUEEENN. Yin zhang's character development shyshsjsksks YESSS. honestly idk what else to say but WATCH IT. 😽😽😽😽

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Dada remains superior

Oh Lord, where do I begin? Crystal Liu is truly one of the most beautiful actresses I have ever seen. She looked so elegant in her outfits as she returns to her roots in this beautifully shot historical drama.

Set in the Song Dynasty "A Dream of Splendor" follows the friendship of three women who have been scorned in love. I truly love the sisterhood that continues to develop despite the conflict that each individual faces in finding their significance in society. Futhermore, the CHEMISTRY between Gu Qian Fan and Pan Er is ... no words... I truly wanted them to fall in love, I was kicking my feet and twirling my hair during their scenes...

This was something I watched while I was baking/cooking so I would say it was an easy watch.

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Women uplifting women.

We love to see a drama where women are portrayed as STRONG, INDEPENDENT, CAPABLE. There are no damsels in distress here - these are women who knows what they're capable and faces every challenge head-on.

This drama was honestly so refreshing to watch. We see such beautiful friendship between three (and then four) women from the lowest class who overcomes all adversity based on their own skills and capabilities. We see such a MATURE, SWEET, and SEXY romance blossom between our main leads that had me swooning by the end. Their chemistry was so palpable that it honestly felt REAL. The plot was engaging. The end was satisfying.

I cried. I laughed. I giggled at all of the romantic moments. This drama had EVERYTHING and had catapulted itself to the top of my favourite Chinese costume dramas list.

Don't second guess yourself. Just watch it!

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